this was a fun read (despite it taking me so long to finish bc of exams), that i thought managed to incorporate some more serious topics into an overall light hearted rom-com. i did not see the mini twist coming so i really enjoyed that part but i definitely did not love that it resulted in what felt like the most unnecessary third act breakup ever. it was enjoyable, so i would probs still recommend!! ( )

I wanted to like this but it was just all over the place and I don’t think it could figure out exactly what story it was trying to tell.

( )

It was… okay? Alright, I guess? I’m not really big into romance or cute little contemporary novels so I figured it wouldn’t really be my thing and while I enjoyed listening to it enough (I listened to the audiobook version) It felt a little lacking. Everything just worked out a little too neatly, it felt lacking of real conflict and emotional weight. Like I was surprised when the main characters got together halfway through the book. I even asked my more romance novel experienced friends if that was the norm. And then everything was mostly smooth sailing? There was very little conflict or drama, and the very minor things that did happen were usually resolved if not in the same chapter then in the next. I guess I would say I spent a lot of time just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the longer it went on the more frustrated I grew with the book. Overall I wouldn’t say I disliked it, and it was more or less exactly what I was expecting. ( )

Digital audiobook read by Sarah Mollo-Christiansen

Publisher’s book blurb A TV meteorologist and a sports reporter scheme to reunite their divorced bosses with unforecasted results in this charming romantic comedy.

My reactions
This was a cute rom-com with an underlying serious issue. Ari is a charming young woman who has achieved her dream of becoming a TV meteorologist. But she sometimes struggles to maintain her on-screen persona; she suffers chronic depression, although therapy and medication help her cope. Still, she IS coping, even thriving. And a scheme to get Torrence Hale (the station’s star meteorologist, and Ari’s hoped-for mentor) back together with her ex-husband Seth (who is also the station’s news director) brings Ari and Russell together in more ways than one.

I liked these characters. They seemed genuine, with real-world challenges, and recognizable coping mechanisms. I liked the way Ari and Russell interacted, though I did think they were a bit quick to jump into bed, but hey … consenting adults. The ups and downs of both their career paths and their romance kept me interested in how this would play out. Were some of the scenarios just a bit too outlandish to be real? Sure. But it’s a rom-com and it wouldn’t be fun without those scenes.

Sarah Mollo-Christiansen does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. She sets a good pace and has diction clear enough to easily understand even when listening at double speed. ( )

The lovely cover caught my eye and I’m glad it did! I loved this. And it is single POV!

After a few drinks at a miserable Christmas party, Ari, a weather girl, and Russell, a sports reporter, conclude their workplace would be better if they Parent Trap their bosses, a divorced couple.

“Get them back together? Russell, they hate each other.”
“Hate and love are two sides of the same coin. As the saying goes.”
“That’s ridiculous.” [...]
“Is it, though? They’re miserable, and they’re making work miserable. And not just for us. What if there was a way we could figure out what went wrong for them? A way we could fix it?”
I think back to what Torrance said at the party, about the intense passion they had. The look they shared onstage. How she lit up when Seth asked her to dance.
There’s still a spark there.
“If I’m humoring you,” I say, “which I am, because I am not at all taking this seriously, how would we even go about it? Are we taking cues from 1998 classic The Parent Trap, starring Lindsay Lohan and Lindsay Lohan? Because yes, it’s a perfect film, but I’m not sure it was intended to be a how-to.”

Humorous hijinks ensue. But what I enjoyed the most was Ari discovering that she doesn’t have to pretend to be all sunshine in order to be loved and accepted, and building a relationship in which she can be honest about her mental health struggles and her personal rainy days. It’s such a warm, comfortable romance!

I also liked the forecasts at the start of each chapter. Like A full night of wallowing gives way to a little light scheming in the early morning hours OR A new front promises severe weather and severe anxiety OR Partly sunny, with a chance of extraordinary courage. ( )

I loved this and devoured it in a single afternoon/evening. The main characters reminded me of Tiffy and Leon from The Flatshare, which is high praise from me. I'm not usually a workplace romance fan (do not get me started about The Hating Game), but this one didn't annoy me in that way at all. I also loved that the third act drama wasn't based on miscommunication, but each of the main characters acting in a certain way that they come to realize maybe wasn't logical once they work through their feelings. Also, Elodie was super cute. ( )

Ari, a meteorologist, and Russell, a sports reporter, work together at a TV station in Seattle. Their respective bosses are exes whose bickering is making everyone miserable, and so Ari and Russell decide to Parent Trap them—but in what will shock absolutely no one who's ever read a romance novel, end up falling for one another along the way.

Weather Girl is perfectly fine, but I enjoyed it a lot less than the previous work of Rachel Lynn Solomon's that I've read, Ex Talk. Solomon writes clearly and this was a quick read. But I didn't feel like Ari and Russell had much real chemistry with one another, and I never had an "aha!" moment where it clicked for me exactly why these two were made for one another—beyond Ari being into facial/body hair, I suppose. Also, while I appreciated what Solomon was trying to do in having a romantic heroine who struggles with chronic depression, those more serious elements in the book sat a bit uneasily alongside trying to make a workplace comedy out of a toxic work environment.

Also, in the epilogue, when Russell proposes to Ari during the speech he gives at someone else's wedding? Tacky a.f.

The cover is very cute. ( )

I thought I had about 10 pages left at 47%. Not enough conflict here; everything was fairly predictable. But it was adorable I loved the talk about mental health! ( )

Big ups for a plus side hero and a heroine living with depression! No shying away from the difficulties they both are facing but they are still wonderfully fun to be with. Loved all the side characters. A wonderful ride. ( )

I loved most of this book. Things I loved: 1) the depression representation and 2) the romance. I didn’t like some of the cliche cheesiness and the romance between Torrance and Seth. The parts with Torrance and Seth just bored me. The depression representation was my absolute favorite because I felt so seen. I understood a lot of Ari’s feelings.

2 of my favorite quotes are:

“We all contain multitudes.” -Alex

“Being a person is hard,” I say simply. -Ari

The romance was cute. I really liked Russ’s character. He reminds me of my boyfriend who is very understanding of my depression. The conflict annoyed me, but at the same time, I knew I’d be the same way. I just always get annoyed by conflict in romance books because I just like the couple being together without issues. But of course, that isn’t realistic. Overall, a feel good and spicy romance. ( )

Wasn't a good read for me right now. Perhaps if I read ot at a different time I would have liked it better. ( )

I really enjoyed this book very much. It's so cute! Weather girl and sports guy plot to parent trap their feuding bosses. Hijinks ensue.

I need to admit why it took me so long to read this book. The main love interest is a plus size man who has the same fashion sense as my brother. It made it very difficult to read a spicy rom-com when I kept picturing my brother lol. I had to work hard to recast my mental image and I'm glad I put the effort. ( )

Cute story about a weather girl and the sportscaster at the tv station. Ari and Russell work together and are concerned that their bosses (who are exes) make the station a difficult place to work as the exes are constantly fighting. Ari and Russell concoct a plan to get the bosses back together, hoping that the station working environment will also improve. What they didn't expect was that by working together on this plan, they would fall for each other. However, Ari has depression issues which make it difficult for her to be completely open and honest with Russell. Also, Russ has a child from a previous relationship, and he isn't sure how to be both a father and a boyfriend.
This is a rom-com with a serious side, but I liked The Ex-Talk by this author better! ( )

This was an easy and enjoyable read. The book follows the evolution of Ari and Russel friendship while they plot to help their bosses get together again.

What to love:
- Heroine with depression (she’s medicated and goes to therapy). I really like to read about characters that feel real, with whom I can connect and who contribute to the normalization of mental health care.
- Fat hero. (It was a first to me)
- Lindy hop! While it is not the same as going to an actual Jam, it was good enough to remember the feeling of it. Do yourself a favour and go to one experimental class wherever you live. The lindy hop community is just the best and you’ll have a blast! It just not possible to not smile while dancing lindy hop.

The negative point for me is that I didn't feel much chemistry between the main characters, discrediting their romance.

However, I want to emphasize that Rachel Lynn Solomon wanted to create a story that showed a heroine that thrived despite her condition, and a hero who loved her through her dark days, not despite of them.

I think she succeeded. ( )

Ari Abrams has been working at her dream job with her idol, Torrance Hale for months, but Torrance and her ex-husband, Seth, who pretty much run the television station where Ari is the morning meteorologist, have been making life miserable for everyone. Their constant bickering and angry pranks make for a toxic work environment, so one night, in a drunken stupor, Ari and sports reporter, Russell Barringer hatch a plot to get Torrance and Seth back together. As their plan begins to take hold, Ari and Russ realize that not only do their bosses have feelings for each other, but they may also.

Weather Girl is a cute romance with some steam and what seems like a fairly accurate representation of chronic depression. Much of the story takes on the characteristics of women's fiction as Ari spends lots of time trying to reconcile her feelings for her mother who also suffers from depression as well as a recent break up with her fiance. Russell, Torrance, and Seth play a big part in the story but we don't get nearly as much of their emotions as we do Ari's. The middle of the book slows way down as there is very little conflict throughout most of the book until the last few chapters when we finally get to the issues that might keep Russell and Ari apart. Overall, Weather Girl is an enjoyable book with an emphasis on real world concerns. ( )

Weather Girl

I Picked Up This Book Because: the hype

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: CC Public Library
Dates Read: 2/28/22 - 3/4/22
Stars: 4 Stars
Narrator(s): Sarah Mollo-Christensen

The Characters:

Ari Abrams:
Russell Barringer:
Torrance Hale, Seth Hale, Ari’s brother, Cassi and Orion

The Story:

Ari grew up watching and idolizing Torrance Hale reporting the weather on TV but when she finds herself working at her dream job for Torrance, well to her surprise working for Torrance and her ex husband Seth Hale is hell. After an embarrassing blow up at the office “holiday” party she and coworker Russell drunkenly come up with a scheme to get Torrance and Seth back together. Hijinks ensue.

I love the way this unravels. The characters are funny and relatable. Overall a very good read.

The Random Thoughts:

Challenges:

A to Z Reading Challenge 2022 - W
Goodreads Book Bingo 2022 - N1 - A book recommended by a friend
Year of Smut 2022 - Single Dad Romance ( )

A sweet and satisfying romance which does a great job sharing a bit about life with chronic depression and about the impact of masking, the ways in which that removes depressed people from loving relationships. This is a 3.5 for me. I felt like it tried to do too much and ended up rushing over the good happy parts and Ari's relationship with her mother, which was really important. Additionally, I was bored by the secondary romance that drove the story and thought that secondary couple's transformation as people inside a short time period rang false. Overall though a good romance choice, and I truly loved the main characters. ( )

Ari is the weather broadcaster for a Seattle news station and Russell is one of the sports commentators. The station is run by a couple who had an unhappy divorce and are now making everyone else miserable. So Ari and Russell decide to get the couple back together.
Like many of the other reviewers, I was expecting a funny rom-com (look at that cover) but this is a much more serious book, more like women's lit, especially since it's all from Ari's POV. Yes, there's some banter, but again, like other readers, I didn't feel the spark between the hero and heroine. It didn't help that I wasn't crazy about the divorced couple, Torrance and Seth, and the whole toxic workplace idea. It just wasn't that funny, and that's what I thought I was getting.
Still, it's an interesting read, but it just wasn't what I was looking for; it actually depressed me more than made me laugh. ( )